News Disney CEO Bob Chapek reiterates his belief that park reservations are now an essential part of Disney's theme parks business

[Ayla]

Is it? There’s certainly times that the paths are crowded but even in busy times you can flow around the park - if beyond BTMRR happens and connects Frontier to Liberty Sq from the other side it will help immensely in terms of more overall space. The biggest issue IMHO regarding crowding at MK is the fireworks and this could be helped by having projections in other places and to actually have a light parade (especially one that ran twice a night).

The two choke points in the park are right in front of PP and IASW and back by Splash and BTMRR. Otherwise, things flow pretty smoothly with the exception of after fireworks.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

DL has been doing this for years, moving backstage areas offsite and expanding the park into those backstage areas, and it’s miserably packed in the parks these days.

The major bottlenecks on a crowded day are Tomorrowland and New Orleans Square. 2 areas that haven’t seen significant changes.

The Disneyland method has worked pretty well but it’s a bit tricky to see because Genie+ has made crowding worse in some areas.

 

[doctornick]

The two choke points in the park are right in front of PP and IASW and back by Splash and BTMRR. Otherwise, things flow pretty smoothly with the exception of after fireworks.

Sure. Ironically both could be helped immensely but doing the beyond BTMRR expansion and removing/moving IASW and using that space to connect to this north of the RoA expansion- not only would that be a good link to the proposed Villain land but it would also allow for access to space for more Fantasyland expansion

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Disney makes less attended days feel more crowded.

I think I'd rephrase that to "Disney allows less attended days to feel more crowded."

They don't make the guest experience worse on purpose, but they know how much money they want to spend to make the guest experience better and at some point they feel they hit the point if diminishing returns.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The two choke points in the park are right in front of PP and IASW and back by Splash and BTMRR. Otherwise, things flow pretty smoothly with the exception of after fireworks.

If the nighttime parade ever returns, the entirety of Main Street becomes a problem for about 4 hours every night. There's a pinch at the turnstiles, a pinch at Town Square, a pinch at Casey's/The Plaza, and a pinch at all five bridges. Not to mention the ferry/monorail/boat/bus stations.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I think I'd rephrase that to "Disney allows less attended days to feel more crowded."

THIS!
Thanks Bob Chapek

 

[CaptainAmerica]

THIS!
Thanks Bob Chapek

This predates Bob Chapek by several decades.

 

[Disstevefan1]

This predates Bob Chapek by several decades.

Not sure "less attended days" applies to the precious decades before park pass reservations.
In previous decades it felt crowded because it was crowded.
Disney has now limited attendance AND made it feel more crowded.

 

[RSoxNo1]

3 of the 4 parks need more/better attractions before they start thinking about a 5th

I think the priority at every park except EPCOT should be additions, not replacements. EPCOT has at least 4 rides that should be replaced / updated (Imagination, Seas, Gran Fiesta Tour, Mission SPACE, SSE)

Yeah, just building three new (not replacement) rides at each of DAK and DHS would make each of those parks so much more enjoyable for guests. The highlights are already there, they just need more stuff to do.

DAK and DHS need additions, but perhaps different types of additions. DAK could use at least one more headliner, and it's possible the Moana flume ride would satisfy that. But the reality is, if the Moana / Zootopia updates go through, the park is back where it was at peak ride count and it will take another 5 years to get there.

There's plenty that can be done in DAK that makes sense, but for me, I think the park needs another headliner that doesn't have a height requirement. The Moana Flume (and likely Zootopia to Extinction) will both have height requirements. A refresh to that area will help spread out crowds, but it's not necessarily the right thing. I've said it countless times, but the most logical thing for me for DAK is Mystic Manor.

As for DHS, this is a park that needs to utilize the Shanghai Pirates tech as soon as possible. The park needs a boat ride, and needs a high capacity E-ticket (that also conveniently doesn't have a height requirement) that can pull people away from Rise of the Resistance and Slinky Dog. The height requirement thing is less critical at DHS, but still not entirely irrelevant.

Each park needs more than what I mentioned above, but for the most urgent need, that's where I'd start.

 

[mkt]

What are the current benefits for working at WDW?

Looks good on a resume outside of Central Florida. And potentially cheap healthcare.

That's about it.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I think I'd rephrase that to "Disney allows less attended days to feel more crowded."

They don't make the guest experience worse on purpose, but they know how much money they want to spend to make the guest experience better and at some point they feel they hit the point if diminishing returns.

They try to make it consistent which is ultimately a goal of having people be the right amount of miserable. They absolutely are making the experience less than the known desirable amount and we see it in reservations outnumbering what anyone else would work out as being a decent capacity based on their operational abilities. They do all sorts of things that they know actively exacerbate crowding.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

They try to make it consistent which is ultimately a goal of having people be the right amount of miserable. They absolutely are making the experience less than the known desirable amount and we see it in reservations outnumbering what anyone else would work out as being a decent capacity based on their operational abilities. They do all sorts of things that they know actively exacerbate crowding.

"Intent to visit" / "intent to return" are among their most closely-watched qualitative metrics. They don't make guests miserable on purpose, stop it.

 

[LSLS]

Honest question… How is universal going to add an additional 38 million guests a year to dethrone WDW? (2019 WDW attendance = 59 million, UF 21 million)

The 2 existing parks are already packed at 11 million guests each, Epic will probably add another 11 million guests a year, potential 4th parks next to Epic theoretically another 11 million… how do they add another 15 million into those numbers? From a physical perspective I don’t see how they can do it without running into the exact same problems Disney currently has.

This has been my argument for Disney to build another Castle park outside Florida also, physically the parks and paths can only fit so many people, you can’t keep packing them in beyond what it was built for or the product suffers.

I could see Uni dethroning Disney as the most popular theme park, I just don’t see how they dethrone them on size. Walt’s philosophies may be disappearing from the company but his foresight on the gift of size is still present.

Where have you been? Didn't you know Disney intentionally limits there capacity to make things much more enjoyable for the guests? They won't let their numbers get to 2019 levels, it's all about the guests.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Disney has now limited attendance AND made it feel more crowded.

An amazing feat… in horrible guest service.

I can’t blame Disney for filling the parks on what used to be slower periods (midweek, Nov, Jan, etc) but the schemes and cost cutting while simultaneously growing crowds is just bad show and bad long term business.

 

[Disstevefan1]

We just returned from a week at WDW and, in my opinion (no one else needs to agree), there are hordes of people who don't find the product nearly as diminished as one would think after reading these threads. They show up and spend what it costs because they still find it's worthwhile for their family.

That said, the park reservation system is my least favorite of the recent changes because it's the most restrictive for guests. We were able to switch parks one day when the weather made it less than desirable to keep our original plan of hitting a water park in the morning. But the "flexibility" supposedly provided by Genie+/ILLs is much less if you are locked into a particular park. If economic conditions affect attendance, I suspect Disney will react by making changes.

Please tell them:
wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com
This is a good address they read and reply.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

What would you define as truly "luxury" that's targeted at children? Because I can't think of anything. Yeah, there are ski resorts and chartered yachts that the 1% are taking their families to, but you're kidding yourself if you don't think that Disney's target audience is anything other than the top two quintiles of household income.

Oh right…because it has Mickey Mouse then the rich and famous will “slum”…give in…buy dvc….show up every year for boo bash and a bad buffet at ohana in a meat market.
And no turndown service or concierge…

Right

Is it Supe’s day off or something?

 

[lazyboy97o]

"Intent to visit" / "intent to return" are among their most closely-watched qualitative metrics. They don't make guests miserable on purpose, stop it.

They know the baseline that must be delivered to get people to respond positively. That’s the aim, that minimum. It’s not about wildly exceeding expectations, just hitting that bare minimum. That means pushing things like waits and crowding to just the right point.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Oh right…because it has Mickey Mouse then the rich and famous will “slum”…give in…buy dvc….show up every year for boo bash and a bad buffet at ohana in a meat market.
And no turndown service or concierge…

Nobody is talking about the rich and famous. I'm talking about the professional class, not friggin' athletes and movie stars.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same

And there's doctors and lawyers
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school

And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

The Chapek speech is classic political behavior. Do something 100% in your interest (making more $$$) and then when asked point blank by the press frame it to make it sound like you actually care about the “little people.”

“Think of the children (from Seattle and Denver)”

And making a villain of your enemy…

“Those selfish passholders want to get in line in front of these hard working American families!

Chapek is the first CEO to ever openly talk bad about passholders and Disney fans correct?

 

[flynnibus]

"Intent to visit" / "intent to return" are among their most closely-watched qualitative metrics. They don't make guests miserable on purpose, stop it.

But they do make changes they expect customers will TOLERATE instead of love. They don't make guests miserable on purpose, but they do want to find the line.